Project Scope Control

Abstract

As the project scope continuously develops, it is essential that projects have a clear scope management process, which defines how scope is to be defined, developed and managed. This is the process of monitoring the status of the project and product scope and managing changes to the scope baseline. The key benefit of this process is that it allows the scope baseline to be maintained throughout the project. This process captures changes in the project's budget and schedule. Project scope is defined as the "work required to output a project’s deliverable." A Scope Change is a change in the agreed scope and goals of a project to address a need not originally defined to be part of the project. This includes processes for requesting, reviewing, approving, carrying out and controlling changes to the project's deliverables. The main stakeholders involved in Scope Change Control include, the proposer of the change, Work Package Owner (WPO) and potentially a second approver, which could for example be the Project Director. This article focuses on the method of applying Scope Change Control, based on industry best practices through structured interviews with Project Managers and Engineering Managers. For the sake of clarity, this method is applied to construction projects within the pharmaceutical industry.

Background

Figure 1: Project Scope Management Overview, inspired from the PMBOK® Guide

According to the PMBOK® Guide, a body of project management standards and guidelines, the purpose of Project Scope Management is to ensure that the outcomes of a project are successfully achieved by only including all the necessary work to complete. Therefore, Project Scope is defined as the work that must be done in order to achieve desired project deliverables.

Figure 1 gives an overview of Project Scope Management. It includes five process:

1. Initiation: Engaging and committing the organization or project office to start the project
2. Scope Planning: Developing a scope statement that set the course for future decision making
3. Scope Definition: Breaking down major deliverables into manageable sizes, also known as Work Breakdown Structures (WBS) to be executed by the Project Team.
4. Scope Verification: Verifying or accepting the scope statement
5. Scope Change Control: Controlling changes to the project scope

These above processes do interact and interface with each other to address a phenomenon called Scope Creep. Scope Creep is defined as the uncontrolled incremental changes in project scope. It can be difficult, especially early on in the design phase of a construction project, to determine whether or not the project scope has been added/subtracted, developed or has not been fully defined due to inadequate design by the engineering supplier as the project progresses. The purpose of this process is to ensure that scope changes are beneficial to the project, determine whether or not a scope change has occurred and finally managing the changes as they occur. Changes to project scope may have direct or indirect influence on the project cost, schedule, quality and others. Therefore, it is important to ensure any implications are accounted for. The process flow of Scope Change Control includes inputs, tools and outputs. This is depicted in Figure 2 and explained below.

Figure 2: Project Scope Change Control Process, inspired from the PMBOK® Guide

The inputs of Project Scope include:

1. WBS: The breakdown of project elements into groups that define the project scope. The purpose is to define confirm a common understanding of the project scope baseline.
2. Performance Reports/KPIs: Performance reporting is used to alert the project team of potential issues regarding scope
3. Change Request: These requests are made by the proposer, which could be for example be the Project Owner or external engineering partner.

The inputs of Project Scope include:

1. WBS: The breakdown of project elements into groups that define the project scope. The purpose is to define confirm a common understanding of the project scope baseline.
2. Performance Reports/KPIs: Performance reporting is used to alert the project team of potential issues regarding scope
3. Change Request: These requests are made by the proposer, which could be for example be the Project Owner or external engineering partner.

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